Unexpected
by ChestnutBrumby
Summary: Because really, how else did you expect Cassie Cage to make her entrance to the world?


"Sonya! Behind you!"

Sonya whirled on the red-shaded ninja creeping up on her, nailing him with a no-nonsense open palm to the nose that stopped him in his tracks. Sonya let loose a kick to his ribcage, and his mask muffled his groan as he slumped down. Sonya kicked him between his legs for good measure, straightening up and brushing herself off with a sigh. "Well, that used to be a lot easier." She muttered, then froze and cursed. "Johnny?"  
"Hey? Did I just see you using my signature move?" Johnny sauntered over from Scorpion's fallen body and whipped out his camera phone. "I'll just prop him up against that wall and you do it again."

"Stop pissing around. Is Scorpion actually dead this time? Or failing that, unconscious?"  
Johnny nodded, hoisting Ermac up by his armpits and arranging him nonchalantly against a chipped pillar. "Yes sweetcakes, I checked and he's not breathing. Okay, let him have it."

"I'm serious."

"So am I!" Johnny protested, phone at the ready. "The guys are NEVER going to believe me otherwise."  
"Johnny, my water just broke."

Johnny's jaw dropped. As did his phone, which shattered on impact with the bloodstanied ground. "Now?"

"Yep."

"_Here_?!"

"Yep."

"Honey, you know I love you. And we've never exactly been a traditional couple. But bringing our son into the world in the Netherrealm seems extreme, even for us."

"I don't think we're going to have much choice." Sonya winced and clutched her sides, while Johnny hovered anxiously, an arm winding around her shoulders. "But this is your first baby, and labour can take hours..."

He trailed off, realization coming to him. It was them, after all. Their baby was about to be born smack in the middle of Earthrealm's latest battle against the Emperor's evil forces for possession of their world. He grabbed for Sonya's phone from her pocket and hastily hit the second speed-dial. "Kitana! Is Lui with you? Thank Raiden or any god within earshot - we gotta situation down here."

"I knew she should have stayed home." Jax passed over his trenchcoat to add to the makeshift bed the Earthrealm fighters were making Sonya. Kenshi snorted. "Good luck convincing her of that."

"Thank you, Kenshi. Jax, labor or not, I will kick your ass." Warned Sonya between taking deep breathes. Kitana leveled a warning glare at Jax over her head.

"I wouldn't rile her up right now, Jax." Lui commented from where he had stationed himself at the main entrance to the chamber, and Jax muttered under his breath as he joined him.

Sub-Zero lifted both his palms and formed an ice wall at one of the smaller entrances. Smoke tapped a fist against it speculatively. "Kuai, I still believe we ought block _every _entrance." He was, oddly for him, bare from the waist up. His silver and black robe was part of Sonya's bed. Sub-Zero sighed and turned to his old friend, blinking - it was unnerving, seeing the private warrior half-undressed. "Tomas, we cannot stop them coming, but we can encourage them into a trap." He motioned to Lui and Jax guarding the main entrance. Smoke looked around and sighed back. "Is this what it's come to? We're naught but babysitters." He grumbled. Sub-Zero punched him lightly in the shoulder. "Stop complaining. How often do we do this?"

Smoke glanced around at the Earthrealm fighters bustling around Sonya, most offering some form of help. He sighed, knowing Sub-Zero was right. As usual. "I'm going to go scout the main tunnel."

He dissipated in a puff of his namesake and Sub-Zero waved a hand, half saying goodbye, half waving away the smoke. It drifted around his head for a moment just to bug him before taking off down the tunnel. Sub-Zero turned his attention to the group around Sonya.

Kenshi lifted his sword, glowing from the blaze Lui had lit earlier with a well-placed fireball. "Okay, I'm prepared to cut the cord." He announced, brandishing the sword proudly. Sonya bared her teeth at him like an angry wolf. "Come near me with that and I'll chop all your fingers off. Plus any other appendage that takes my fancy." She gasped, wiping sweat off her forehead. Kitana took up one of her fans and waved it to keep the expectant mother cooler, which Johnny hastily pushed away. "Can you not wave those near my wife's face? They're _weapons_. Not cooling devices."

Sub-Zero shook his head. "This kid has no chance of being normal."

"YOU DID THIS TO ME." Sonya grabbed Johnny around the throat. He gasped, but valiantly squeezed her shoulder. "You know I'd do it for you if I could." He wheezed. Kitana rubbed her shoulder soothingly. "Okay sweetie, let him go. He's turning blue."

"Incoming." Smoke materialized again, running a worried hand through his long silvery hair. "Motaro, Sindel, Rain, and to top it all off - Reptile. Two minutes."

Johnny straightened up, getting his breath back. "Lui, Jax, hold the main entrance. Kenshi, Kitana, you've got the right hand side. Smoke, Sub, you're with us. Anybody breaks through, you're up. Sub, you're watching and reinforcing the iced-over entrances, too. Let's make this one quick, people - the first thing little Johnny Junior is seeing when he is born is NOT going to be a battle."

"We've been over this. We are NOT naming any son of ours after _you_." Sonya snapped, then winced as a contraction gripped her.

"What if it's a girl? What will you call her then?" Lui asked from his station.

"Irreverent. We're having a boy." Johnny insisted.

"Mazel Tov." Motaro came leaping into the chamber, his hooves ringing menacingly on the stone. A flash of lightning backed him up and then Sindel was flanking the centaur and the purple ninja, the inhumane flash of a small reptilian form following her in.  
All hell broke loose.

Jax went straight for Motaro, metal fists flying. Lui let out a battle cry and launched himself at Rain, and a violent hissing set up as fireball met storm. Kenshi whipped his sword out, aiming for Sindel - when he sliced off a nice chunk of black-and-white hair she screeched like a banshee and tackled the blind warrior. Sub-Zero and Smoke tracked Reptile's progress around the edge of the cavern, stalked by Kitana with a blade-edged fan at the ready.

"What's happening?" Gasped Sonya, trying to get up. Johnny braced a hand on her shoulder. "Nothing sweetie." He assured her, although he knew she wouldn't believe him. "O-kay, I think it's time to start pushing..." He blanched, nearly passing out from fright when Sonya screamed even louder than Sindel. He'd never heard his wife make a sound like that before.

"Kitana!" Suz-Zero shouted a warning as not only Reptile took his human form and began sparring with her, but Scorpion rose from where Johnny had left him crumpled in a heap earlier. Fortunately, the yellow ninja's attention was elsewhere.

"Get over here!" He let a spear fly at Johnny, impaling him in the shoulder. The actor looked down in surprise. "_Shit_!"  
"I told you to make sure!" Sonya yelled as Scorpion brought Johnny flying forwards him.

"Thanks honey, that's helpfURGH." Johnny took a fist to his solar plexus, which at least dislodged the living spear from his flesh. Smoke and Sub-Zero exchanged glances. "Stay with Sonya, I'll rescue Johnny." Sub-Zero leaped into the fray, leaving his scowling friend behind. Despite his uncomfortableness, Smoke crouched down by Sonya. "Uh. Deep breathes?" He offered weakly. She stared flatly at him. "Smoke, if you come within range of my fist, you damn well better hope you're insubstantial at the time."

Sub-Zero clobbered Scorpion with an uppercut, using the momentary second of relief to yank Johnny to his feet. He was bleeding - hardly surprising - but he'd live. "Get back there. I got this."

While Scorpion and Sub-Zero rolled by locked in Kombat, Kitana finally got the upper hand on Reptile, faking a punch then slicing off an arm with a well-placed fan slice. He hissed, then shrank into his animal form and darted away down one of the corridors. Rain, his outfit scorched, was quick to follow. Lui went to help Jax drive Motaro off, while Kenshi already had the upper hand against Sindel and saw her off without aid.

A sudden silence descended on the cavern, and Johnny - crouched back at Sonya's head, supporting her upper body, obvious to his bloody shoulder - closed his eyes, wondering if it were really over.

The silence was broken by a baby's cry. It was a willful, strong cry, protesting, unruly.

Smoke no longer looked so awkward, crouching with the newborn in his arms. Sub-Zero, (having emerged victor, naturally) one of the few who hadn't yet donated clothing, pulled off his robes and handed them over for his friend to gently clean off then swaddle the baby. Smoke handed the tiny human to Sonya, smiling at the new parents. "Congratulations. You have a baby girl." He said softly, pulling back to give the new family a moment. Sub-Zero cast him a look of surprise, then put an arm around his old friend's shoulders. He did the same. Kitana and Lui drew together, hands clasping. Jax knelt down behind Johnny and Sonya, his stern expression melting into a huge smile.

Johnny, looking down at his daughter - at the fuzz of blonde hair, at the features so familiar, just as beautiful as her mother. The rush of love he felt for the tiny being constricted his chest, and it was several moments before he could speak. "She's perfect. She's _perfect_."

Sonya leaned back against the robe-bed, smiling tiredly. In a few minutes, she'd have to get up, get their daughter to safety, start the fight all over again. But right now, it was enough to take a backseat for once. "Lui had a point. What _are_ we going to call her?"

"Cassie." Johnny said softly. Sonya smiled - one of her rare, true smiles, lighting up her whole face and relaxing her usually watchful expression. "Cassie Cage. I love it."

As the other fighters joined Johnny around Sonya, welcoming the newest Earthrealm warrior into the world, a figure in black-and-blue pants and one in black-and-grey stood back, watching with no small measure of contentment.

"Knew it." Sub-Zero shook his head slowly, taking in Scorpion's frozen body, Ermac's still figure (he may or may not have been still breathing), Reptile's severed arm, the blood unrelated to birth splattered all over the place. "This kid has no chance at a normal life."

Smoke did something he seldom did - he laughed, and he clapped Sub-Zero on the back. "My friend, what else would you expect?" 

* * *

**A/N - I know, it's ridiculous. But it had to be written and it may as well have been me. **  
**In short - yes, I'm excited about Cassie Cage in the next MK installment, even if it does mean I'll have to cave and finally buy a PS4. May another generation of Mortal Kombat fans love Cassie every bit as much as we love her parents. **

**-CB**


End file.
